Summary: A sermon considering the Growth of the church seen in both the mustard seed & the leaven.

31" Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."

33 "Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. "

The parable of the Mustard seed

Definition of The Kingdom of Heaven:

All of those who claim to be Christians, whether genuinely saved, or not. It is a picture of the Churchs, different doctrines, beliefs, denominations, etc...

I) The Tree

sinapi

mustard, the name of a plant which in oriental countries grows from a very small seed and attains to the height of a tree, 10 feet (3 m) and more; hence a very small quantity of a thing is likened to a mustard seed, and also a thing which grows to a remarkable size

The Growth of Christianity

It began with one.... Jesus

Isaiah 53:1-3 "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus added the apostles who then began to multiply

The Sowing of the seed

Matthew 10:2-4 "2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

From twelve to Seventy

Luke 10:1 "1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come"

From Seventy to One hundred Twenty

Acts 1:13-15 "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) "

To Thousands

Acts 2:41 "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. "

To Multitudes

Acts 5:14 "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) "